Advances in computing technology have made possible the provision of computer-aided-design (CAD) software to support the design and manufacturing of articles. Modern CAD software not only includes sketching or schematic features, but also solid modeling and other advanced features.
Manufacturing of articles often involves the welding of two or more components of an article into one single piece. A variety of welding types may be employed, including but are not limited to flange edge, butt, double flange, flange corner, single flange, square groove, square butt, and so forth. Accordingly, it is desirable for CAD software to support modeling of welding.
A few commercial CAD systems offer support for representing welds. Externally, the support includes highlighting and/or labeling of the edges of the components involved. However, the method in which this functionality is provided is proprietary, and not known. In particular, it is unknown whether the welds are separately modeled or represented, and if so, how they are modeled/represented.